Call to promote early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease

Carolina Gomez Mena

The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, September 21, 2024, p. 8

On the eve of World Alzheimer’s Day (September 21), specialists and health agencies called for demystifying this disease and promoting early diagnosis.

Dulce Tovar, director of the Alzheimer Mexico Foundation, highlighted the importance of taking action in the face of this public health challenge, both for patients and for families, many of whom have women as their primary caregivers.

In Mexico, more than 1.3 million people live with Alzheimer’s and this figure is projected to exceed 3.5 million by 2050 due to population aging.

In America, this disease and related disorders affect 10.3 million people and are among the leading causes of death in individuals aged 60 and older, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

The health agency says that, unfortunately, those living with these diseases are often subject to stigmatisation and discrimination, and warns that by mid-century the number of people with dementia will almost triple in the region.

Separately, María del Carmen Cárdenas Aguayo, a professor at the UNAM Department of Physiology, stated that Alzheimer’s It is not a normal part of aging and early diagnosis can improve patients’ quality of life and ease the burden on their families.

Therefore, more support is needed for basic research into this neurodegenerative disease to better understand its molecular mechanisms and to be able to identify more specific biomarkers and design better therapeutic strategies.

The prevalence of dementia in people over 60 years of age is 7.9 percent and it particularly affects women and those living in rural areas. Given this situation, specialists insist on the need to strengthen public policies to guarantee comprehensive access to diagnosis, treatment and care.

The annual cost of caring for people with dementia in Mexico exceeds 23 billion pesos, a figure that includes medical expenses and economic losses caused by the reduction in income of caregivers. Faced with this challenge, experts urged society and the government to join forces to confront this growing crisis.